Navigation

Fired Up!

IT’S difficult to know just who cheerleading comedy Fired Up will appeal to.

On the one hand, it’s a bawdy comedy about two High School sports stars who join a cheerleading camp to get laid. But on the other, it’s about cheerleading… that mostly feminine of pursuits.

Lads will probably be put off by the concept in the first place, while ladies will almost certainly find themselves lamenting the sexist nature of Will Gluck’s unfunny comedy.

Fired Up is therefore a bit of a no-go for all audiences.

Nicholas D’Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen star as the two High School jocks who give up their summer camp with the guys in favour of cheerleading camp with 300 girls.

But it’s fairly predictable that what begins as a mission to bed as many babes as possible soon turns into a life-changing experience for both.

D’Agosto’s Shawn finds love with level-headed cheeleader captain Carly (Sarah Roemer), while Olsen’s Nick sets his sights on the camp’s older instructor. Both learn to value the meaning of team building.

Gluck’s film does, admittedly, offer the odd moment of guilty laughter and is packed with gratuitous shots of girls (and guys) in various states of undress, or figure-hugging costumes.

But any goodwill you have towards it will be severely tested by the dubious nature of the screenplay, which finds most of the men either gay or misogynistic and almost all of the women pining to be satisfied.

D’Agosto and Olsen lack much to endear them as the central pairing with the latter, in particular, seemingly determined to copy the early motor-mouthed tendencies of Jim Carrey.

While Roemer struggles manfully as the supposedly intelligent team leader but is let down by the poor quality of the script.

Indeed, nothing about this cheerleading comedy offers anything to cheer. And while some comic irony is sought from the film’s “FU” initials, it’s doubtful whether you’ll be thinking anything more favourably towards it once you’ve sat through its laboured endeavours.